LONG BEACH – It was another hot, sweaty day at Blair Field, and another hot, sweaty victory for Long Beach State. A day after a ninth-inning rally for a win, the Dirtbags went 11 innings to beat Pacific on Sunday, 7-6, before 1,750.

They should get used to this. This Big West season doesn’t have the look of past seasons when the usual two or three suspects were atop the standings. The No. 25 Dirtbags improved to 26-14 overall and 8-4 in a conference with a phalanx of teams bidding for honors and postseason bids.

At 8-4, the Dirtbags are tied for second with UCSB, 1 games behind Cal State Fullerton at 11-4 but, most importantly, tied with it in the all-important loss column. Right behind them are UC Davis and UC Riverside at 7-5 and UC Irvine, oddly the highest-ranked team of the six, in sixth place at 6-6.

There will be more games like Sunday. The Dirtbags led, 2-0, fell behind, 6-3, and rallied for two in the eighth, a run in the ninth to tie and the game-winner in the 11th on T.J. Mittelstaedt’s bases-loaded single.

Closer Bryan Shaw pitched three innings to get the win for the second straight day.

“We’re finding ways to come back like we did at the beginning of the season,” Coach Mike Weathers said.

“We stayed in the game and fought back. I think we had a sense that we could do it from Saturday’s game.”

Trailing 6-3, the Dirtbags got two runs in the eighth. Shane Peterson hit his seventh home run of the season, a slicing, opposite-field drive to left. Danny Espinosa followed with a deep drive to left-center that Matt Fuson dropped on the track for a three-base error. He later scored on Rylan Sandoval’s single.

In the ninth inning, Jonathan Jones blooped a single over the reach of two Pacific infielders, advanced to second on Steve Tinoco’s bunt and scored on Jason Corder’s single to tie it up.

With one out in the 11th, Espinosa singled to center and went to third on Sandoval’s double, his fourth hit of the day. Pacific walked Jason Tweedy intentionally to load the bases. With the infield in, Mittelstaedt hit a one-hopper over the second baseman’s head for the winner.

Sandoval is the latest Dirtbag hitter to step up, with seven hits in the last two games as the starting third baseman. He had made 14 starts this season, most of them at DH, before he started at third Saturday in place of the injured Brandon Godfrey and slumping Taylor Krick.

“It’s been hard to get into a groove because I was used to being an everyday player (at Chabot College),” the junior transfer said.

“I’ve been working hard at third and at second just preparing for an opportunity. Coach always tells us an opportunity will come and you need to be ready.”

Sandoval homered and had a key double in the eighth inning Saturday. Sunday, he doubled in a run and scored in the second and had key hits in the eighth and 11th.

Tinoco and Tweedy each had two more hits to continue their hot streaks.

“Steve’s been a big help and he’s playing as he did for us late last season,” Weathers said. “You can see how much we missed Tweedy in those 18 games he missed.”

Tweedy was sidelined throughout the 2-11 slide.

The Dirtbags jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second. Sandoval’s double drove home Peterson and Sandoval came across on Robert Burk’s groundout. Pacific tied the game in the fifth on Noah St. Urbain’s two-run home run.

Jake Thompson straddled trouble all day with his penchant for allowing the first hitter to reach base, and he and reliever Nick Vincent were touched for four runs, four hits, a walk and an error in the sixth as Pacific took a 6-3 lead.

DIRTBAG NOTES: The Dirtbags have their longest pause of the season in front of them. They have four days before their next game, when they open a Big West series at UC Davis. Weathers will give them today and most of Tuesday off before the team heads north … Brett Lorin was the bright spot of the weekend on the mound. The usual Tuesday starter pitched two scoreless innings (one hit) Saturday and two more (two singles) Sunday. Shaw was happy to stretch out his appearance considering he hasn’t been getting into games as regularly as last season … The Dirtbags have won eight of their last 10 and have had double-digit hits in six of their last eight.

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